Formula-K 150cc - 6 Hour motorcycle race

Words and photos by Deon vdl Photography.

We sent Deon to Formula-K on Saturday for FK’s first 6 Hour endurance race for 150cc motorcycles only. There were 10 bikes and 39 riders that entered. FK gave a new track layout that produced the longest possible course the track has to offer. A demanding 2.1km track full of twists and turns.

It was a test of mind, body and machine all having to work together to determine which team could clock up the most laps in the 6 hour time period. The teams on the day had either 3 or 4 riders that had to use the same bike. Repairs to the bike are allowed, the catch with that is the longer you take to get the bike repaired the more laps and time you lose out on. When changing riders, the current rider has to stop behind a citation line and the bike has to be switched off and be pushed to the next rider where refuelling is allowed. The new rider gets on, starts the bike and off he goes. It is up to the team to decide how long or how many laps each rider will do before changing riders. All sorts of riders entered for the race the youngest riders were 11 year old Tyler Janse van Rensburg and Amohelang Phiri who turned 11 the day before the race, all the way up to veterans.

The day started with an hour warm-up session, no qualifying session as the bike positions were drawn. Riders briefing took place with time to have breakfast. Before the start of the race the riders went out for two warm-up laps, an unfortunate chain break on bike #40 saw Team Total Tender Loving Care (TTLC) mis the start. The bikes were lined up on one side of the track and the riders on the other side Le Mans style, the horn blew and the riders made a dash for their respective bikes. A little tumble from Joa ‘McTumble’ Folgado while running to the bike put a slight delay in their start but Folgado was quick to get up and got going.

Dorren Loureiro was the first rider to get his bike out in front, followed shortly by the rest of the pack. Ryan van Nieuwkerk took the lead in lap 1 and just kept on the power and did 24 laps before heading into the pits. Loriero did one lap less with 23 laps in his first session.

After losing a bunch of laps Team Total Tender Loving Care got the bike fixed and Chris Wright quickly got going, putting up some good lap times, things started looking good for Team TTLC. Wracking up some much needed laps, disaster struck them yet again as mechanical failure saw them entering the pit after doing 26 laps. Working on the bike furiously doing whatever they could to get it back on track, but in the end all their hard work came to a sad halt as they had to retire the bike bringing an end to their day.

While TTLC was busy in the pits, the action was still going strong. Still leading was Team King Price Extreme (KPX), with Team GFP chasing with one lap difference. Team Zenith Junior was holding on to third place with Team MAAD trying to close the gap.

At an hour and a half Team King Price Extreme (KPX) had completed 49 laps still leading. GFP were keeping their cool with 47 laps, sitting in second. Zenith Junior also with 47 laps was giving it their all to catch GFP. MAAD was in the pits refuelling and swapping riders with 46 laps. Team Zenith completed 43 laps. Kings Original also in the pits had 42 laps. The Doctors operated at 38 laps. Dig Dogs came through with 36 laps. Team AMC had finished 34 laps and was doing their best to catch up.

Reaching the half way marker KPX racked up 97 laps. GFP had completed 95 laps and was still desperately trying to close the gap. Both MAAD and Zenith Junior had 92 laps when the clock struck 13:00. Kings Original had pulled off 85 laps and 78 laps for Team Zenith. Looking like bike trouble The Doctors had been in the pits doing some work on their bike since 12:44 with a tally of 70 laps, AMC trailing by one with 69 Laps. The Doctors went out, did one lap and were back in the pits with more trouble, went out again for another lap and retired with 72 laps.

With two bikes down the remaining eight bikes kept on going. After another quarter session KXP was sitting pretty with 145 laps, spending some time in the pits GFP had 141 laps. MAAD was going like mad with 138 laps, still in the game for podium spot Zenith Junior was one lap behind with 137 laps. Kings Original were 128 laps into the day, Team Zenith had completed 119 laps. Team AMC went up one spot grabbing 105 laps and Dig Dogs had to deal with a repair job that cost them over 16 minutes just after the halfway mark, but still got in 104 laps.

At the final stretch, the riders were pushing and going all the way, pushing through pain and fatigue. Eventually, something had to go wrong, some loud scraping attracted attention to the KPX bike sliding across the track with Clinton Seller following and taking a slide of his own, earlier in the race they lost valuable time in the pits that gave GFP a chance to close the gap. Seller was back on his feet in a flash running to the bike, he got the bike going and pulled off in a hurry. By now time was ticking away fast, the end was near.

The last 10 minutes were very intense. People started piling on to the fence in anticipation. The marshall made his way towards the chequered flag, keeping a close eye on the time as he readied the flag… As he dropped the chequered flag with the King Price Extreme team taking the win with 192 laps for the day. GFP had an outstanding run, closed the gap and finished in 2nd place with 190 laps. Taking 3rd was the silver bullet of team MAAD with 189 laps and in 4th spot Zenith Junior with a total of 186 laps. Keeping their composure and placing 5th were the riders of Team Kings Original lapping the track 174 times and with a lap count of 166 had Team Zenith in 6th. Dig Dogs clawed their way to 7th with 144 laps and, over the line with a close 8th place, also with 144 laps Team AMC.